Excerpts from sleeve notes:

All the pieces that make up this CD are presented here in their entirety. They
reflect our mutual explorations discussed in confidence, freedom and exigency since
2005. Dialogues of timbres, interspersed with fragments of chords, rhythms and
melodies, parallel plays in imitation or opposition... Conversations browsing the
various registers, imaginary and emotional worlds of the guitar abstracted until
the disappearance of regular or expected timbres.

Complicity and the freedom to explore music acquired over my meetings in London
with John reappear intact in our public concerts. It's like playing 'ŗ la maison'
: en toute amitiť !

PASCAL MARZAN (2011)

Pascal and I first met in 2004 and our first public appearance was for the
indefatigable Adam Bohman as part of his concert series at The Bonnington in Londonís
Vauxhall district. Since then we have played a number of concerts both in England
and France and also recorded our private sessions, excerpts from which, chosen by
Pascal, can be found here.

Pascalís background as a nylon-strung classical guitarist and mine as a steel-strung
plectrum player are quite different and this naturally informs our music. We are
also first and foremost free improvisers, which for us means not only that the music
is not pre-composed but that any sound available on the instrument can be considered
as being of possible musical use. Our shared love of the guitar and guitar music
in all its forms, coupled with our different musical experiences, means that there
is a lot to draw on and I find the duo a continuing delight.

By the way, if you don't like guitars you won't like this CD!

JOHN RUSSELL (2011)

Excerpts from reviews:

"On the recordings, Russell's steel-strung plectrum playing is heard on
the left channel and Marzan's nylon-strung classical guitar on the right, allowing
the different contributions of the two to be heard clearly and easily distinguished.
Although the two guitars have very different timbres, they blend well as the
complementary parts of a coherent totality. The natural playing styles of Russell
and Marzan are very different, yet together they adapt to each other and find
a common style that allows each to play fluently and freely. When they are in
full flow, the music seems to pour out of them smoothly and effortlessly, making
it simultaneously relaxing and exhilarating.

On the album's longest track, the 24-minute epic Kuulilennuteetunneliluuk,
the pair starts at a brisk pace, spurring each other on and exchanging phrases
at speeds that demonstrate their mental and manual sharpness. The piece then
settles down to a more sedate tempo, but the technique remains just as impressive.
It never sounds as if the two are in competition - no dueling guitars here - but
are both totally involved in an enjoyable and engaging game. As Russell says,
'I find the duo a continuing delight.' Yes, it shows.

By the way, if you do like guitars, TRANSLATIONS makes for compelling
listening; if you don't like guitars, it could well change your mind."

"Since 1980 Russell has applied to various projects the Latin term 'Quaqua'
meaning 'by whatever way'. The word sums up his commitment to the instrument as
total configuration, rather than conventionally defined and delimited sound source.
Listening to Russell play, you can still discern an element of wonderment at his
own exercise of that freedom. It's an aspect of his musicianship that has persisted
over many years, and Marzan has it too. Out of their fascination with the guitar's
potential, and their sense of being otherwise musically unbounded, arises the
motive power for these engrossing exchanges.

Marzan calls them 'dialogues of timbres', and the character of sounds - those
plinks, chimes, rounded tones, occasional vigorous scraping and fractured chords
- are the audible substance of the music. Of equal importance, though, is its
movement, which is neither unidirectional nor goal-oriented. Rather, it's movement
as a factor of affinity; the ripening of musical kinship generated by curiosity
and the stretching of know-how into zones of discovery. And for those of us who
like listening to guitars, it's where a catalogue of soundings becomes the flow
of absorbing music."